French auto supplier Actuaplast expanding in U.S., China

French injection molder Actuaplast has launched a new production facility in Dongguan, China, and is planning to set up a new plant in the Detroit area in the U.S., according to Ronan Pȁ;rennou, the company’s chief executive.

“I’m leasing a facility with a space of 1,500 square meters (about 16,000 square feet) to launch production (in Detroit),” Pȁ;rennou told local daily newspaper Ouest-France in an interview.

The plant will produce a wide range of plastic products, including pipes and connectors. Actuaplast has already created 10 jobs in the U.S., according to the chief executive.

He did not specify where the plant is.

The Chinese subsidiary is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise in which Actuaplast holds a 100 percent stake, Pȁ;rennou said. The plant has a workforce of about 50.

Based in Saint-Évarzec, in northwestern France, the company supplies as much as 80 percent of its output to automotive manufacturers, with both injection molding and blow molding of under-the-hood parts.

Actuaplast uses nylon, thermoplastic elastomers and polyurethane. The firm’s plant of about 28,000 square feet has been fitted with machines supplied by Engel, Netstal Maschinen AG and Sandretto Metalmeccanica. The machines have a clamping force of between 40 metric tons and 610 metric tons, according to data released by the manufacturer.

With its foreign expansion plans, Actuaplast is forecasting revenues of about 10 million euros ($13.7 million) this year, according to its chief executive. Currently, Actuaplast generates about 35 percent of its revenues from export sales, Pȁ;rennou said.

European Plastics News is a sister publication to Crain’s Detroit Business.